Expedition into the Zone
by Chickenfeed22
Summary: The story follows Private Adrik Ivanov in an expedition deep into the heart of the Zone.
1. Chapter 1 Touch Down

**Chapter One – Touch Down**

"5 minutes until touch down."

Adrik Ivanov, the youngest on the team, at the age of 21, looked out of the tiny, circular window. Huge mountains of rusted metal and vehicle carcasses stretched out across the land for as far as he could see, the helicopter dipped and served to avoid them. "The garbage they call it."

Adrik, embarrassingly, almost jumped out of his seat. Anton Mikhailov, the team's medic, had spotted Adrik gazing out of the window. "It's a graveyard for the vehicles and other radiated crap from Chernobyl. Not a nice place."

"How do you know? You've been here before?"

Anton chuckled, shaking his head. "Never, but I've learnt from some of the veterans of the Zone."

"And what's the rest of the Zone like?"

"Not any better, I don't think. I'm not the one you should be asking though; it's only me and you who haven't been here before." Anton laughed, "You should try speaking to Alexei," he said, nodding towards the soldier sitting opposite, eyes closed, and a cigarette hanging from his lips.

Adrik nodded, and was about to reach across to Alexei, but was stopped by Captain Kyznetsov, shouting from the opposite end of the helicopter. "Alright, men. We're coming in to land now. I want a defensive perimeter within 30 seconds of that back door opening, understood?" The soldiers all nodded. "Ok, when it's secure, we'll move up to the warehouse. I want Alexei and Dimitri on the door, wait until my go and we'll move in. Any questions?" The cargo hold was silent. "Good, now you've got about 10 seconds to get yourselves ready.

Adrik took a deep breath, a reached underneath his seat, grasping his rucksack and rifle, an AKS-74U. He followed the lead of the men in the hold, standing up, swinging the bag onto his back and cocking his rifle.

The Hind hit the ground with a thump, mud and grass flying up in the rotor wash. Five seconds passed until the cargo doors groaned open, and a team of six soldiers swung out, raising their weapons, two by two.

Alexei and Dimitri, both riflemen, took the lead, moving out side by side, but splitting up and covering both sides of the helicopter. Adrik and Pyotr, a support gunner, and the oldest member of the team, moved out next, securing both angles left and right. Finally, Captain Kyznetsov and Anton moved out, moving forwards and looking up at the huge warehouse.

The grey, concrete building was 3 stories high, and once served for food storage, but went into disrepair soon after the Chernobyl disaster. Since then it had become a home for passing STALKERs, mutants and cobwebs.

Kyznetsov motioned towards Alexei and Dimitri, nodding towards the door. They both jogged past him, pushing up against the wall on either side of the doorway. They waited for the signal. The rest of the squad regrouped, covering the flanks. Kyznetsov turned around, waving towards the soldier in the helicopter's cargo hold. He raised his hand and walked towards the cockpit, the cargo doors closing bend him. A few seconds later the helicopter raised high into the sky and flew South, back towards Cordon. Kyznetsov looked towards the soldiers at the door, "Go."

Within seconds, the door had been kicked open, its lock hanging from the broken frame. Dimitri and Alexei rushed in, splitting up, left and right. They rushed through the corridor, and moved into the main room. With the rest of the team close behind, they stepped into the huge room. Dirty, broken boxes lay all around the floor, completely empty. Over the years this place had been raided, raided and then raided again, by starving STALKERs hoping for an easy meal. Nothing was left, apart from the boxes. Even the furniture and light bulbs had been taken.

The team all switched on their shoulder mounted flashlights and began searching the building, checking behind all the boxes to make sure nothing was hiding. Adrik stepped behind a huge pile of broken boxes, and spotted a trail of blood spots. He followed the trail with his torch and noticed that it disappeared underneath a rusted door. "There's a blood trail over here!"

Anton stepped up behind him, "Fresh?" He knelt down, examining the blood specks. He nodded to himself, "Captain!"

Kyznetsov moved up to the pair, followed by Pyotr. "What is it?"

"Fresh blood, it leads into that office" Anton replied, nodding towards the doorway.

Kyznetsov thought for a second. "Ok, you two check it out."

Anton nodded and stood up. He looked towards Adrik and they both moved over to the door. The Captain and Pyotr slid up behind the pair, and Anton nodded towards Adrik. Realising what he meant, Adrik raised his weapon and, putting all his strength into his right leg, kicked the door open. He rushed in, sights up and flashed his light around the room. He illuminated the bloodied face of a man, hidden among a pile of cardboard boxes in the corner. "Found him!"

Adrik and Anton moved up as one, pointing their rifles into the face of the man. "Is he alive?" Kyznetsov asked. Anton knelt down, placing his fingers onto the man's neck. He shook his head, and moved a flattened box from the man's lap. His jacket was blood soaked, and a cluster of bullet holes was gathered around his stomach.

"Automatic," Anton noted. "4 rounds." Kyznetsov nodded, and walked back towards the door.

"Check for any intel, and I'll go and -" He was cut off by the loud burst of automatic fire, followed by a sharp scream echoing around the warehouse. Kyznetsov cursed, and ran out of the room, followed closely by Pyotr, raising there weapons and prepared for the worse. There was another burst of gunfire, which was followed by the retort of 3 different weapons. The warehouse was quickly filled with the sounds of gunfire and shouting.

_An ambush_, Adrik thought, _we've walked into an ambush_.


	2. Chapter 2 The Rook

**Chapter Two – The Rook**

_1 month earlier._

"Wake up! Bloodsuckers!"

Swinging his legs off the bed, Adrik yelled and reached for his rifle. His fingers grasped the handle and he spun around, dropping to his knee, eyes down his sights. He listened out for the tell-tale sounds of heavy breathing, but then he heard it.

Laughter.

Cursing to himself, he put his rifle back down and rubbed his eyes. Three uniformed soldiers walked into the room, doubled over in laughter.

"You should've seen you face, Rookie!" One chuckled.

"Did you wet the bed this time, Rook?"

"Very funny, guys. Very funny." Adrik shook his head and pushed past them, avoiding eye contact. This, of course, just made them laugh all the more.

Stepping out onto the broken slabs, he took a huge breath of the rank air. He sighed, that was the third time they'd played that same trick, _one of these days I'm not gonna bother waking up, _he thought to himself, _and who will be to blame when my face is eaten._

A burly soldier brushed past him, murmuring "Watch it, Rook." as he strolled over to a line of Ural trucks. Adrik sighed, again. He didn't expect any less, he was the newcomer, and he was still a "kid" in their books. Twenty one years old, and he had only completed training a year ago.

This was, in fact, his first tour of duty. He completed his basic training, and only three months later, he was told he was being deployed to the "Exclusion Zone". Of course, everyone knows what that means. He packed his bags, and said his final goodbyes to his horrified families, and headed off for Specialist training. He then spent another five months being taught about radiation, how to combat it, how do deal with radiation poisoning, how to assist someone else with radiation poisoning. That was the boring stuff. Then he went onto the "What to expect in the Zone" bits, teaching him about mutations, anomalies, how to spot and avoid anomalies, other STALKERs, rules of engagement towards STALKERs, the "factions" within the Zone, and so on.

Then he had to do some revision and refreshment training, then before he knew it, he was on a helicopter flying out towards Chernobyl, or, as his mother had crudely put it, his coffin.

A man walked over to him, a black beret tilted on his head. He looked up and down Adrik, then frowned "Adrik Ivanov?". Adrik nodded, and the Captain sighed. "I wasn't told to be expecting a rookie."

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, sir."

The man snorted, "Captain Kyznetsov," he introduced himself. "You'll be serving in my squad in the Zone. You best get ready, you've got your first briefing in thirty minutes. Be in the command hut five minutes early, understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"Men, I'm sure you'll be happy to know that in less than a month's time, you'll be _deep_ into the exclusion zone."

This statement alone was enough to send a ripple of disturbance through the crowd. Thirty soldiers were crammed into a tiny, metal "Command Hut", along with a huge projector screen, five officers, and two commanders, sitting at the front.

"We've been gathering intel from the 'inhabitants' of the Zone. Word is, one particular Stalker is in the process of actually making a route directly to Chernobyl NPP. As ridiculous as it sounds, he's actually pulling it off so far.

"I'm sure you can guess what this means! You lucky men have been drafted in as a 'Deep Expeditionary Task Force', along with others from various installations around the Zone. Your job is simply to take advantage of this fool's actions, to get right into the NPP and keep everyone else out. No one gets in, until the rest of our forces reaches it, and then _still_ no one is to enter!

Expect a more thorough briefing closer to the date, but for now, that's all you need to know. Is there any questions?"

A few hands rose into the air. "Yes, you, Private."

"How many other men are being used on this mission, sir?"

"Apart from you lot, there are 50 more soldiers. Take note that you are not the main strike force, you are simply a reconnaissance team, your job is to ensure that the land is safe before we send the rest in."

That last sentence caused an uproar within the hut, multiple hands shot up.

"We're making sure it's safe? So... We're cannon fodder?"

"Of course you're not bloody cannon fodder! All safety precautions are being taken to ensure that you are in no risk! If the mission become too hot, it will be _cancelled. _As simply as that."

Another hand, "How are we entering the area?"

"Your being split up into six man teams, I'm sure you already know who your leaders are. Expect some squad specific briefing in the near future. The plan is to deploy the squads via air before the expected opening, to ensure you can get straight into the action as soon as possible."

Although more hands were still in the air, the commander shook his head and told the men to return to their barracks until further instrutions.

_I am seriously regretting signing up to this._


End file.
